The Xperiments
by Itsonlyalineifitgetsbought
Summary: Dont read, only up here encase my computer crashes.


Title: The Experiments

Joseph Conti- The Vampire

Personality Traits:

Wise

Quiet

Patient

Somewhat reckless

Potentially dangerous

Physical traits

Short light brown hair

Light brown eyes

Extremely strong but not visibly

Medium height

Light skin/ tan's well

He was born a vampire, met Audrey in Verona, helped her hide. Told her his secret.

Side Effects of his condition:

Needs to drink blood

Can consume thoughts until thirst is quenched

Born: Verona, Italy July 14th, 1862

Age he appears: 21

Age he is: 147

Darien Fox-The Invisible Man

Personality Traits:

Witty

Sarcastic

Somewhat light hearted

Potentially dangerous

Physical Traits:

Medium length medium brown hair

Brown eyes

Visibly strong/6 pack

Tall

Medium skin/ tan's well

Killed his mother's boyfriend because he tried to beat her but she pressed charges on him for murder. He was facing a long time in jail because of his previous arrests for theft but was given the choice for complete bail if he would allow them to insert a biosynthetic gland into his brain that allows him to become invisible by bending light.

Side Effects of his condition:

Can go insane

After certain stage of insanity it is irreversible

Born: Boston, Massachusetts December 9th, 1990

Age: 19

Tyler Brooksdale- The Werewolf

Personality Traits:

Hates Joseph

Short tempered

Hot headed

Generally kind/loyal friend

Potentially dangerous

Physical Traits:

Strait dark brown hair

Hazel eyes

Built but not body builder

Very tall

Tan skin/ tan's well

He was injected with canine hormones that cause him to become a werewolf when he gets very angry/loses his temper or when adrenaline is pumped through his veins.

Side Effects of his condition:

Can lose control while being a wolf

Clothes rip off when transformed

Born: Seattle, Washington April 19th, 1991

Age: 20

Audrey Moore- The Immortal

Personality Traits:

English accent

Old fashioned

Uptight

Motherly

Not much of a threat

Physical traits:

Medium length curly reddish brown hair

Chocolate colored eyes

Thin

Medium height/short

Light skin/ does not tan well

Her mother worked on one of the main projects at the lab and after she stumbled on something she shouldn't have and touched it she was to be killed but her mother saved her, costing her life and through her sacrifice she gained immortality at age 19.

Side Effects of her condition:

Cannot see her self portrait or she will become the age she is in the painting

Born: Oxford, England September 5th, 1863

Age: 20

Zoe Diaz-The Pyro

Personality Traits:

Dislikes Audrey

Somewhat short tempered

Silently Troubled

Funny

Potentially dangerous

Physical Traits:

Short dyed jet black strait hair

Grey/blue eyes

Very skinny

Normal height

Paleish/ tan's ok

She was slowly introduced to fire until it became a necessity and she developed a 6th sense for controlling/manipulating it but it was the most experimental and the most dangerous out of all of the projects.

Side Effects of her condition:

Can consume thoughts

Must carry lighter for self security

Born: New York City, New York August 21st, 1992

Age: 20

Brooke Collins- The Resident Genius

Personality Traits:

Witty

Sarcastic

Intense

Extremely intelligent

Somewhat less dangerous

Physical Traits:

Long wavy light blonde hair

Blue eyes

Healthy skinny

Tall

Tan/ tan's well

Her parents were blackmailed into sending her to the lab to be observed because of her intelligence. She was medicated with some sort of super drug/hormone to increase her intelligence.

Side Effects:

Sometimes she knows things that are going to happen

Born: Bel-Air, California May 19th, 1992

Age: 19

Brooke/Darien

Joseph/Audrey

Tyler/Zoe

C. 1

She was trapped in a dark basement like room with a table and chair, a lighter, and a candle. The voices in her head were buzzing round and round telling her things she couldn't understand. She had finally cracked. She picked up the chair and threw it against the wall. Watching the shattering chair and its echo made her rage even stronger. She picked up the lighter and lit the pieces on fire, followed by the candle which she ran around the room lighting it on fire. Zoe Diaz was having that dream again. It was the second time this week. She liked to pretend it wasn't real and that none of that happened, but sadly it did.

In a room, only doors away, lay yet another restless dreamer named Tyler Brooksdale. He was squirming, recalling one of the many tests he was put through at the institution. In this dream he was in a white room strapped to a table. He was growling and barking, trying to get the attention of his captors but not succeeding. He was writhing in pain and all they did was watch and take notes. This had been the moment when Tyler decided, in his blistering pain, that he had to escape.

He woke with a start and shook his head as if to erase the memory out of his mind. "It was just a dream." He breathed, assuring himself he wasn't back in his definition of hell. He heard groans of pain coming from the next room. Zoe. He decided to get up and check on her. He dragged himself out of bed then debated whether or not to put a pair of pants and a shirt but after hearing a particularly loud and desperate groan he decided against it. He hustled out of his room and into hers to find her lying on her back writhing and crying.

"Zoe, it's ok I'm here. You're safe. No one's going to hurt you." He said as he rubbed and shook her shoulder at the same time. She stopped crying, opened her eyes and smiled a faint smile of gratitude. He pulled her head to his chest as she sat up and she began to silently cry once again.

"Stay here tonight. Please." She begged as her crying ceased. He hesitated. He was worried his underlying feelings for her would surface but seeing the look on her face he couldn't deny her his comfort. Zoe smiled and nuzzled into him once he was settled. She fell asleep almost instantly and slept soundly through the night while Tyler on the other hand, stayed awake to avoid his dreams.

"Good morning." Audrey said as Tyler stumbled into the kitchen half naked. "You're up early." She stated.

"Bad dream." He stated simply while getting coffee. To add on to Tyler's already bad mood, Joseph walked in.

"Good morning all." He said brightly and kissed Audrey on the cheek. He was sporting a designer collared shirt, expensive khaki pants, and loafers. Tyler sneered then picked up the paper and left the room. "What's got his panties in a knot?" He joked.

"I don't know, but I hope he does not radiate it all day." Audrey said while stirring the pancake batter.

"Do I smell pancakes?" Darien said as he walked into the room. His medium length brown hair was sticking strait up as usual and his pajama shirt was open so you could see his abs. He grabbed a cup out of the cupboard and poured himself some coffee.

"Morning all." Brooke said. Darien took a minute to size her up. She was wearing boxers and an old WWF t-shirt with a panda on it and looked like she just woke up, and yet there he was, checking her out. It was no secret Darien liked Brooke, but Brooke being the intelligent woman she was, did not even pretend to acknowledge his feelings for her. He believed she was just playing hard to get.

"Darien put your tongue back in your mouth you look like a dog." Audrey scolded him. He drew his eyes away from her and went to sugaring his coffee.

"Speakin' of dogs where's my favorite werewolf this morning?" Darien asked as he poured mounds of sugar into his coffee.

"He probably went off to find a fire hydrant and pee on it." Joseph said spitefully. Audrey hit him with the wooden spoon in her hand.

"Do not say such things, he a human being just like the rest of us and will be treated as such." She stated. He rolled his eyes. "And you better watch it mister or ill spit in your pancakes." She warned. He backed off then and sat down at the last free stool at the island.

"Good morning!" Zoe exclaimed as she pranced into the kitchen. She wasn't usually a morning person.

"Someone's in a great mood this morning." Brooke stated. "Good night?" she asked.

"Actually no. Well at least not the beginning of it. I was having a nightmare but Tyler came in and comforted me and I went right back to sleep soundly. It was great." She said contented as she went into the fridge and grabbed a diet Pepsi. She jumped on the counter then realized they were all staring at her silently. "What? Did I sit in something?" She asked.

"No, it's just that… well were all just… surprised…" Joseph said. Zoe finally got it.

"Oh please you guys it was strictly friend to friend. I'm sure any one of you would have done it." She said.

"Yes but the point is any one of us didn't do it." Brooke said. Zoe was about to reply but Tyler walked back into the room.

"What?" he growled slightly when he noticed everyone staring at him.

"Nothing." They all replied in unison. Zoe grabbed her pancakes and a few for Tyler then went to sit on the couch in the other room with him.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" Zoe asked him. He looked up from the newspaper at her to show her the bags under his eyes. "I'll take that as a no." she said. "Open up." She said and few him a piece of chocolate chip pancake. They stared into each other's eyes as he ate slowly then suddenly Zoe's hand caught fire, making her drop the fork and plate on him. He however did not jump, due to the fact that he was used to her losing control of her condition occasionally.

"They would make a good couple." Darien said. They all, even Joseph who did not like Tyler very much, agreed.

"Yeah. But Tyler never would let her in; they would be dysfunctional as a couple. That's why there just friends." Brooke said. They all remained silent doing morning like things until Joseph spoke up.

"Anyway back to business. As much as everyone hates to admit we need to get moving, we've been here too long. I was thinking Toronto." He said. Everyone's faces fell. They all loved their newest location of Little Rock, Arizona but knew that if they stayed in one place too long the government was more likely to find them. They had already been in Little Rock for a year which is the longest they had ever stayed in one place.

"What about Myrtle Beach? It is the summer time and having a group of teenagers living together in isn't that uncommon." Darien said.

"As much as I hate to say this, that's not a bad idea." Brooke said. Darien's face lit up because coming from Brooke that was a real compliment.

"That's fine with me. I will miss this place though; it has such a homey feeling to it. Oh well, better start packing." Audrey said.

"I'm going to go find our passports then go pack my things. I assume you will purchase the tickets?" He asked Darien. He nodded then took a sip of his disgustingly sweet coffee. As the room cleared out Darien sat in silence thinking. He was tired of moving around ever few months and was very relieved when they decided to stay in Little Rock.

Out of all of the side effects of the experiments Darien's was by far the worst. If he spent too much time being invisible he would lose the quicksilver to blood ratio in his veins and it was take over, making him a murderous psychopath. Fortunately for Darien this had only happened once. It was at the lab and when the lab technician came in to give him his shot of counteragent he beat the man to death and almost escaped the facility. He was unfortunately stopped at the gates by a shot to the arm. Darien rubbed his scar in memory of those events. The technician was just following orders and trying to help him and Darien never forgave himself for what he did.

"Hey, you ok?" Brooke said as she re-entered the room. He smiled faintly at her then picked up his coffee and went to his room to pack.

C. 2

"Were traveling separately, as a safety precaution of course." Darien said solemnly. He hadn't been in a good mood in two weeks, since he rekindled his memories by accident. Everyone was worried about him, especially, to everyone's surprise including her own, Brooke.

"Ty, your plane leaves in 20 and it will take you directly to Seaside airport. All you have to do is take a cab and go to Island view condos. The room name is under Jackson Bates. Call me when you get there, same goes for you Audrey." Darien informed him. He gave him his ticket and Tyler left for his plane.

"Audrey, you're plane leaves," he checked his watch "About now, you need to go. Its gate five, you're going to end up landing in Nashville then South Carolina." He told her. She ran off to her gate, just making it before it closed.

"Joseph, your plane doesn't leave for another 2 hrs, sorry about that. It's going to stop somewhere in Louisiana then reach the S.C. airport." He told Joseph who groaned.

"Brooke and Zoe you two are actually going together because I was running out of flights to divide us up on. You're leaving in an hour and stopping in S.C. but your car ride is going to be a good hour from the condo." He told them. They were about to leave when Darien grabbed Brooke's arm. "Listen, if for any reason something feels weird or you feel like something is going to happen to you, call me immediately. Got it?" he told her then let go.

"Please Darien, nothing is going to happen, you're so paranoid." she said then walked off with Zoe. He stood and watched them walk off, having a bad feeling in his gut. He didn't realize Joseph was with him until he spoke.

"What was that about?" he asked, trying to read Darien's expression.

"Have you ever had a bad feeling about something but couldn't place why?" he asked him.

"No." he replied simply.

"Well I have and do. I just hope I'm wrong." He said. He placed on his sun glasses then walked off to his gate.

After a long plane ride he landed at Seaside airport. If everything had gone well Tyler and Audrey should have landed an hour or so each before him and should already be at the hotel. He was desperately awaiting their call, wondering if they had made it okay. Just as his restlessness was beginning to bring him to a panic his phone buzzed. On the first ring he answered.

"Were there any problems?" he asked rapidly.

"No, why would there have been?" Tyler asked. Darien sighed in relief.

"Is Audrey with you?" he asked.

"Yes she just walked in." he replied.

"Good, I'll be there in 10." He said then hung up.

A wave of relief flushed over Darien as the taxi driver pulled up outside the condo's lobby. He walked in to the nicely air conditioned lobby and smiled slightly. It was a nicely furnished place and he noticed several other teens wandering around. They could avoid suspicion easily.

"Name please." The clerk at the desk asked.

"Jason Bates." He replied.

"Well you're the third one to arrive. Are you all siblings?" He asked. The question kicked Darien's nerves into gear and his pulse began to increase.

"No, my father has offered us all a sort of congratulations gift for surviving our first year of college." he said, somehow managing to keep his cool while answering.

"Oh well isn't that nice of him." He said kindly. "You're on the top floor; just hit the highest button on the elevator." He told him. Darien mumbled a word of thanks then walked quickly to the elevator. "Sir?" he called after him. Darien slowly turned around. "You forgot your key." He told him. Darien managed a smile then grabbed his key and went to his suite.

He entered the suite to find Audrey exploring the kitchen and Tyler sitting on the couch watching soccer and drinking beer. "I see you found the beer I had them bring us." Darien said then took off his shoes and left his stuff in the foyer.

"Yeah, dude I love you." Tyler said somewhat sarcastically.

"Don't sound too enthusiastic, it only cost me fifty extra bucks to bribe the bellhop." Darien mumbled sarcastically.

"Darien I don't mean to be rude but this suite only has 5 rooms and there are six of us. What do you plan on doing about that?" Audrey asked him. Darien grabbed a beer then plopped down on the couch next to Tyler.

"Well I figured, since you and Joseph are already sleeping with each other, there was no reason to waste money on getting another room." Darien replied simply. She looked taken aback for a moment then regained her usual posture and stalked away into her room.

"That was kinda obnoxious man; couldn't you have just put two guys together?" Tyler asked sympathetically. Darien snorted.

"Yeah. I guess I could have, but let's face it, one of us needs to be getting laid around here and it ain't gonna be you or me. I'm doin' Joey boy a big favor here." Darien said scornfully.

Tyler nodded his head in understanding. Darien knew Tyler would never express his feelings for Zoe and he also knew that Brooke would never want to be involved with him. In thinking of Brooke he checked his tattoo. The green snake that was tattooed on his wrist was almost completely red, indicating he needed a shot of counteragent sooner rather than later. Because he had been so anxious earlier his brain pumped more quicksilver into his veins than usual, causing his need for counteragent. Darien continued to drink his beer in the hopes it would calm his nerves until the others came. Then, as if she knew he was worried, his phone buzzed.

"Hey Brooke, are you guys okay." Darien asked. His voice was noticeably edgier than usual. Brooke noticed this.

"Were fine, but are you? When was your last shot?" She asked concerned.

"Let's just say we cut it a little close this time. Where are you?" He asked.

"Well unfortunately our plane was delayed. We just got into a taxi, it's going to be a while. Are you going to be okay?" she asked him. He turned to Tyler.

"Are my eyes getting red?" he mouthed to him. Tyler's eyes widened and Darien took that as a yes.

"Yes I'll be fine, just get here's as quickly and safely as possible." He lied then hung up. "You need to find a way to restrain me fast, I've only got a few minutes." He said then looked at his tattoo fearfully. Tyler jumped up and looked around for something that would help him tie me to something.

"Dude you wanna help me?!" Tyler exclaimed while rummaging through the kitchen. Darien was about to get up when he fell to the floor in agony. It was happening. The quicksilver madness.

"Audrey!" Tyler yelled. She ran into the room and saw the chaos that was about to follow. "Grab al the belts you can find quickly!" Tyler yelled. He then switched into his werewolf form and restrained Darien to the ground. He looked into his friends eyes and realized it was no longer him, but the monster within the man. Tyler, not knowing Darien's strength when he went insane, was kicked off of Darien and thrown into the glass table. As it shattered into a million pieces Darien stepped on the shards of glass and laughed.

"It's nice to be back to my old self." The monster said. He began to walk towards the door when Tyler got up and pulled Darien's arms behind his back.

"Darien this isn't you. You are better than this, you can beat the monster." Tyler tried to reason with him. Darien shoved him off.

"Don't you realize you fool. This _is_ me. I am this monster you speak of and there is nothing you can do about it." He walked to the door. Just in time Joseph walked in and assessed the situation quickly. He jumped on Darien and restrained him with his vampric speed and strength. Tyler slowly got up.

"I was getting to that." He mumbled. Joseph rolled his eyes and asked him to help him get Darien up. Audrey had returned with four belts she had found from their luggage. They went into Darien's room and used the belts to strap him to the bed by his arms and legs. Once they were sure he was completely restrained then all sighed in relief.

"Someone needs to call Brooke." Audrey stated.

"I'll do it." Tyler said. "This is partially my fault anyway and she's gonna yell at whoever answers." he said then walked into the main room and picked up Darien's phone off the floor and dialed the number.

"Hello?" Brooke answered.

"Hey B. Listen, Darien lied before. He just went quicksilver mad." He paused as she gasped in horror. "And before you ask, we restrained him but he's going to need some counteragent asap." He said then braced himself for the yelling. After a few seconds he was surprised to hear nothing on the other line. "Hello? Brooke you there?" he asked, worried they got disconnected.

"I'm here." She said. He heard her ask how long they were from the condo. "We'll be there in twenty minutes. Make sure he isn't left alone." She told him.

"Ok." He said and was about to hang up when she stopped him.

"Wait Ty, can you do something for me?" she asked. He replied with a yes. "Go back into the room." She told him. He did so. "Look at his eyes. What color are they now?" she asked shakily. He leaned over and looked.

"They're very red." He told her.

"Not at all silver though right?" she asked.

"No just red. Why what does it mean when there silver?" he asked but she hung up on him.

"Is he going to be okay?" Joseph asked. Tyler nodded them waved Audrey and he off. He sat by Darien's bed and watched him thrash and yell curses at them until finally Brooke ran in, shot in hand. She quickly and expertly injected the solution into the back of his head. Darien writhed in pain for a few moments then lay motionlessly in the bed.

"You can take off the belts now, he's under control." She told him quietly. He did as she told him then left the room to sit and watch the game with the others. On the way to the couch he grabbed a shot glass from the mini bar and poured himself a shot of vodka then once he reached the couch he drank the rest of his beer. Within twenty minutes he was passed out drunk on the couch while the others just sat down and watched, stunned.

"I didn't know he drank." Zoe said shocked.

"Neither did I." Audrey said just as shocked.

In the other room Brooke sat on the edge of Darien's bed and waited for him to awake from his rest and talk to her. The two had a special bond because she was his doctor and even though they sometimes didn't get along on a personal level, they got along on a professional level. He knew that she wanted what was best for his health and she knew he would do as she said to do so.

"What happened?" Darien said while sitting up. Brooke pushed him back down, noticing he was dizzy.

"You went quicksilver crazy." She told him softly. All the blood drained from Darien's face and he looked as though he had just seen a ghost. "What's wrong?" She asked, confused by his reaction.

"Is Tyler okay?" he asked in a panic. He had just remembered what he had done to him.

"Of course he is okay, why wouldn't he be?" She asked, obviously not seeing the broken table on her way in. Darien got up quickly and went into the other room. He saw the shards of table on the ground and noticed some of them had red specks on them. He walked over to the others and noticed Tyler was passed out.

"What happened to him?" Darien asked worried.

"He just walked in here and downed a particularly large shot of vodka and the rest of his beer like a moron." Joseph said. Darien sat down next to him and felt his pulse. He was alive and breathing. At that exact moment Tyler woke up and grabbed Darien's wrist. Darien backed off to show he wasn't going to hurt him. Tyler looked like he was about to get up but he sat back down and mumbled a word of pain.

"Brooke, he's hurt. There's glass in his back, can you take it out? Without going to the hospital that is?" Darien asked guiltily. Realization shown in Brooke's eyes and she nodded.

"Tyler go into your room and lay face down on your bed." She told Tyler. "Audrey put up a pot of water then take a needle out of my bag and place it in for a minute. Then bring me a glass. Darien, go into my bag and get tweezers, medical string and tape, Neosporin, and gauze." She told them. "Joseph, help me get him into his room." She told him then they helped Tyler onto his bed. At this point Brooke noticed his back was covered in lines of blood. "Zoe, take his shirt off." She told her. Zoe did as she was told. She was crying lightly as she did so, extremely worried about him. Darien returned with the materials Brooke had asked for and placed them on the bed. His eyes went wide when he saw what he had done to his best friend. He sat down in a chair in the corner of the room with his head in his hands.

"Zoe, hand me the tweezers." Brooke asked. Zoe hands shook as she handed them to her unlike Brooke's whose hands expertly took out each shard of glass in minutes. She handed Audrey the glass of glass while Audrey handed her the needle.

"Guys this is embarrassing enough, can you all leave." Tyler asked desperately. Reluctantly everyone but Brooke and Darien left. Tyler cringed as Brooke sewed up his wounds. She then wrapped the gauze around his body then taped it to him.

"All done. Oh my God Tyler, I'm so sorry, I should have put you under anesthesia, I knew I forgot something." Brooke said apologetically.

"It's okay, I'm used to pain." He said half jokingly. He slowly got up with the aid of Brooke. "Hey B, can you leave us alone for a bit." He asked. She nodded then picked up her stuff and left. "Are you okay?" He asked Darien when she left. Darien looked up from the floor.

"You just got thrown into a glass table and drank until you blacked out and you're asking _me_ if I'm okay?" Darien clarified.

"Yeah I guess I am." Tyler smiled. He was the only one who knew what Darien had done back at the institution. Darien nodded him head in exasperation.

"I could have killed you." Darien stated grimly.

"But you didn't." He replied simply.

"You're not mad?" Darien asked.

"Not in the slightest." Tyler replied truthfully. "I'd rather it me than anyone else." He said and then realized that wasn't such a good thing to say. Darien then began to let his mind wander to what could have happened if it were anyone else. Tyler, realizing what he had just done, spoke. "Dude there's no reason to wonder what could have happened because it didn't, and it won't ever happen again. So get outa your mind. Lets hit the beach or something, that'll get you in a better mood." Tyler said.

"Why's that?" Darien asked grimly.

"You'll get to see Brooke in a bathing suit." Tyler smiled devilishly. This made Darien smile. He got up and helped his friend up in a brotherly fashion, as if to apologize for the previous event.

Within a few minutes everyone was ready to go down to the beach. As they walked thought the lobby Darien realized someone had to tell the desk they destroyed the table. They all voted Joseph because he was the oldest and knew how to negotiate. Once he returned he told them how much they had to pay for the table they were all shocked.

"Why the fuck would they have a table that expensive in a hotel?" Zoe asked. They all shrugged. Because Darien controlled all of their financial transactions only he knew that they could not afford what the hotel was asking for the table. This also meant that he was the only one who knew that they had to do another job. He didn't let this problem ruin the rest of his day; he decided he would think about when he couldn't sleep tonight.

They spent the rest of the day tanning and playing football on the beach in the nice warm water. Around five thirty they all decided they were hungry so they walked off the beach and up to their rooms.

"Hey guys were going to a nice restaurant tonight so dress fancy." Audrey yelled out the door of her room to everyone as they were getting dressed. She picked up a red silky ruffle spaghetti strap dress then held it up against herself and looked in the mirror. She then did the same with a skin tight pink dress and the same with a short black and white striped one. She then decided she needed her friend's advice.

"Hey Brooke, Zoe, can you come in here for a sec." Audrey yelled. They both came in with three dresses in hand then laughed. "Okay so I can't decide whether to wear the red one, the black and while one or the pink one." She said while holding up each dress.

"Def. the red one, it's totally sexy." Brooke said.

"Yeah, Joeyboy will sure love that one." Zoe joked. Brooke laughed because Audrey had blushed a crimson red, about the same color as the dress.

"Okay my turn. This one," Brooke held up a medium length skin tight blue strapless dress "this one," she held up a very short sparkly green dress "or this one." She asked then held up a long silky pale yellow dress.

"My vote's on the blue one." Zoe said, Audrey agreed.

"Okay my turn. This one," Zoe said then held up a classy black dress, "this one," she held up a silky purple dress, "or this one." She said then held up a somewhat long black dress with a purple belt.

"I like the purple one; it will go great with your purple eye shadow." Audrey told her. Brooke agreed then they all went off into their rooms and got dressed. After about an hour all the boys were standing in the living room in their suits tapping their feet and checking their watches waiting for the girls. Finally Audrey came in wearing her hair up in a high bun and her classy red dress. She also wore simple black eyeliner and mascara, red lipstick and high black heals.

"Wow, you look amazing." Darien and Tyler told her. She then turned to Joseph, expecting a similar response but found he was still in shock. Then Brooke entered the room. She was wearing her long wavy blonde hair down with her bangs clipped on the top of her head. She also wore body glitter on her cheeks and chest and blue eyeliner that matched her dress perfectly. Brooke walked over to Darien's outstretched hand and he spun her around to show her off.

"Damn you're hot." Darien said and admired her beauty. Joseph nodded in agreement and Tyler was staring past them at the new addition to the room. Zoe came in wearing her short black hair down, purple eye shadow and black eyeliner to match her purple dress and generally high heels. They all told her how beautiful she looked except Tyler, who tried not to look at her in the way everyone else was. He was always in a battle with his feelings for her and was trying now more than ever to see her as a sister. He saw her face drop a little when he didn't say anything but he figured if she thought she had no chance it would make it easier for him.

"So how are we getting to wherever we're going anyhow?" Brooke asked.

"We'll I thought it would be fun to do something we've never done before." Joseph said as they went through the elevator and walked through the lobby to the front door of the hotel. Once they were all outside they saw a black stretch limo waiting in the driveway. All the girls screamed and Tyler turned to Joseph and told him how cool it was of him. Darien on the other hand was groaning on the inside, realizing how much this would cost them.

"Hey buddy you okay?" Joseph asked. Darien gave him a fake reassuring smile and entered the car with the others.

When they got to the restaurant the nauseous feeling Darien had had from realizing how expensive the limo worsened. It then got continued to increase as they sat down and got their orders taken. It was clear that Darien was the only person looking at the prices of the food. By this time he had lost his appetite completely.

"Darien what's the matter, you never eat this little when we go out." Audrey asked.

"Nothing I'm just not feeling all that great still." He told him, keeping her quiet by bringing up the earlier events. After a very expensive appetizer and their main course the girls left to powder their noses.

"Joseph how much did this cost you?" Darien asked somewhat frustrated.

"I don't know, a couple grand. Why?" he replied. Darien choked on his drink. He saw the girls walking back from the bathroom and decided they had to cut this conversation short.

"No reason." Darien mumbled as the ladies sat down. Tyler looked at Darien and knew something was up with him and he intended to find out what.

"Would you like anything for dessert?" The waitress asked them. Darien was silently willing everyone would say no with every fiber of his body.

"I think I speak for everyone when I say we couldn't possibly eat anything else, we're just too stuffed." Audrey said. Everyone else nodded and Darien was thanking God loudly in his mind.

"What if I wrapped it up for you?" the waitress tempted them. They all began to think about it and Darien returned to pleading to his friends though his thoughts.

"That sounds like a great idea." Brooke said. Dairen let out a big breath and slumped down into his chair in defeat. After deserts were wrapped up and they had all returned to the hotel everyone departed to their rooms and went about their usual nightly routines. The only person who didn't do so was Darien. He didn't even bother changing from his nice suit before grabbing a bottle of bourbon and a glass and sitting out on the balcony. After a good twenty minutes Tyler went out with him, showered and in his boxers, and sat down next to him. They sat in silence for at least an hour then Tyler spoke.

"So what's eating at you?" Tyler asked. Darien knew he couldn't pull a job off on his own but didn't want to involve anyone else for safety reasons. After a few minutes of internal debate he decided.

"We have to do another job." Darien said flatly then took a big sip from his glass. Tyler's body went rigid. Neither of them enjoyed doing a job, but he knew that if Darien was mentioning it, it had to be done.

"How much do we have?" Tyler asked trying to keep his voice at a monotone.

"About three grand." Darien answered. Tyler sighed then took the bottle from Darien's hand and took a swig.

"We really cut it close." Tyler said. Darien nodded then stared out at the ocean. There was a comfortable silence between them then he spoke.

"Do you think we should tell Joseph?" Darien asked. Tyler grunted. If it were up to him he wouldn't tell Joseph anything. "I'm thinking we might need the man power." He said.

"As much as I hate to say this, I think we need him." Tyler said as though it physically pained him. Without another word Darien got up shakily and knocked on Joseph's door. He answered immediately.

"What's up man?" He asked. He looked at Darien, noticing by his grogginess that he was on his way to drunk and laughed a little. "I see someone's been drinking." He laughed. Darien gave him a sarcastic smile.

"Where's Audrey?" He asked impatiently.

"In the shower why?" he replied. Darien grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him out on the balcony with Tyler. "Ok what's going on here?" Joseph asked a little worried.

"We have to do another job." Tyler told him.

"Oh." Joseph said then let out a big breath and sat down in the last vacant chair on the balcony.

"Well that explains your behavior all night. Where's the job?" he asked.

"We haven't gotten that far yet, right Darien?" Tyler half stated half asked. Darien looked out into the waves again and drank. Tyler and Joseph silently waited patiently for him to answer.

"I was thinking Virginia. There are some decently large banks on the way there. I figure a few small heists and a larger one at the end should hold us off for a few years." Darien said finally. Tyler and Joseph looked at each other.

"Exactly how much are you talkin' man?" Tyler asked. Darien paused.

"Five hundred thousand." Darien said. Both of their eyes widened.

"Darien that's the booze talking. Five hundred grand is a lot." Joseph said.

"No, this is all me. I want this to tie us over for a long time, forever if possible. I figure if we put all the money in an offshore account in the Caymans it will collect interest over the years and we should be set." Darien said. They took a while to think it over and by the time they were done more than half the bottle was empty.

"When?" Joseph asked solemnly.

"As soon as possible." Darien replied.

"I'll get us a car. Joseph you're in charge of getting all the tools me might need. Pack light, were leaving tomorrow." Tyler said. He was about to get up when Darien grabbed him and pulled him back down to his seat.

"What are we going to tell the girls?" He asked.

"Were not."Joseph said quickly.

"We have to tell them something, there smart and they'll need a reason for our seemingly random leaving." Darien said.

"We'll tell them were going for a boys night out. When we get home a day later we'll say we couldn't drive home we were too drunk." Tyler told them.

"What about the money?" Joseph asked.

"We got into a high stakes poker game and you won the jackpot. And when they ask how we'll imply that we cheated by using Darien's ability but we won't say so they don't make us 'take it back'" Tyler said. They both nodded then he went into his room and closed the door.

"He's completely out of his mind." Tyler said. And for once in their life, Tyler and Joseph agreed on something.

C.3

Darien woke up with a monster hangover that morning but did not let it show. The first thing he did was taking five aspirin for his headache and drank lavender tea. He woke up early to pack and realized he needed to take a shot of counteragent with him for safety purposes. He quietly turned invisible and snuck into Brooke's room. She had unpacked almost everything, and, luckily for Darien, everything included her lab. He rummaged around and found a sterile syringe and the little blue vial of counteragent. He quickly pocketed it and began to sneak out of the room when Brooke rolled over.

"Darien." She mumbled. He froze in place, hoping he was just hearing things. He then checked to see if he was still invisible then clarifying he still was he slowly turned around too look at her. Even when she was asleep she was beautiful to him. When he was sure she wasn't awake he walked out of her room and for the first time in days he truly smiled because he knew that she dreamt about him too. He became visible again while walking in the kitchen and scaring the crap out of Tyler who threw the orange juice he had found in the fridge and was about to drink it.

"Jesus man, can you not do that." Tyler exclaimed then began to clean up the orange juice he splattered on the cabinets. He noticed Darien smiling then smirked. "What's with the smile?" he asked, not really caring, just happy to see his friend happy.

"Oh, nothing." Darien said, still smiling from ear to ear. Just then Joseph walked in and threw two duffel bags on the couch.

"Dude you pack like a chick, two bags, seriously?" Tyler laughed. Joseph rolled his eyes at him.

"One is clothes, the other is tools we need. You would think with you mutt ears you could hear tools rattling, but then again you are only a mutt." Joseph instigated. Tyler turned around and glared at him, gripping the knife he had been using to butter his toast ridiculously tight.

"Ty stop, you're gonna break it." Zoe said then entered the room in her pajamas.

"Right." Tyler said then dropped the knife on the counter. Then Audrey walked sleepily in the room. When she saw the bent knife in the counter she looked puzzled.

"Did I miss something?" She asked. Tyler let out an exasperated breath then bent the metal back into its original shape.

"Hey guys." Joseph said to Tyler and Darien then tapped his watch. They nodded.

"So were going on a boys day/night out. We don't know what time we'll be back so don't wait up." Tyler said then began to walk down the foyer.

"Hold on a second." Brooke said. She had been listening to the conversation from her room and just now decided to get into it. "Where are you going?" She asked suspiciously.

"Up north." Darien said. She gave him a death glare because of his decisiveness. "Hey look, I left you guys enough money for the next week okay. It should cover your food, shopping expenses, any activities you want to do and more. If you need anything call, and remember if you feel something weird is going on get out of there quick and then…" She cut him off.

"Call you, I get it Darien. I'm not 10." Brooke said then grabbed the money and the keys to the other rental car from his hand. He took one more look at her then grabbed his bad and walked past Tyler out the door. Zoe was expecting Tyler to at least hug her goodbye but the best she got was a general bye from him to everyone. Joseph kissed Audrey then grabbed his bags and left.

After a long six hour drive and no rest they reached their first destination around 7 pm, just as it got dark. The first job was a decent sized bank in central North Carolina.

"How are we doing this?" Joseph asked. Tyler and Darien looked at him wide eyed. They had gone through the process at least five times in the car. "No, no I mean how much are we talking from each bank?" He asked, noticing their looks of horror.

"I worked it out. It's a random amount from each bank. This one is gonna be fifty eight hundred." Darien said then shot the security camera. Once they all were wearing ski masks and gloves and all the cameras were disabled Tyler picked the lock to the front door. When the door was open Tyler disabled the security system inside the vault and Darien began the lengthiest part of the process, drilling the hole in the safe. Once it was open they took exactly fifty eight hundred from different safe deposit boxes then stashed the money in a duffel bag and left.

On their way they found a mall parking lot and ditched the rental car and stole a completely different looking car from the lot. They then proceeded to their where next job where they used completely different methods to avoid suspicion of a chain of robberies and stole sixty four hundred. They continued this method in different places with higher intervals of cash. When they finally reached their last job they were tired but determined to finish.

It was a particularly popular bank in Virginia that had been around for decades, but unfortunately its security hadn't been. For this job they decided Darien would go in alone invisibly and steal the cash himself. They only problem with this plan was that if Darien was invisible for any more than twenty minutes he would go quicksilver crazy and though they had the antidote they didn't want to cut it that close. Darien went in and Tyler and Joseph waited outside ready to attack him and inject him with counteragent if necessary. Luckily, he was in and out of the bank in fifteen minutes.

"Let me see your tat." Tyler said once they were in the car. Darien reached out his arm so Tyler could see the snake tattoo on his right wrist. It was almost a centimeter from being completely red. Before Darien could brace himself he was injected in the back of his neck with counteragent by Joseph on the orders of Tyler. They were happy that it was over and they did it while avoiding a crisis situation but they were over schedule on time so their plan to stop at a motel and catch up on some sleep was thrown out and they drove all the way back home. In the parking lot of the hotel they changed clothes and they drank a little alcohol and splashed some on their necks to make the girls think they had been drinking.

They had stopped at the bank before they went back to the hotel and placed the money in several accounts under aliases then had it wired into a few accounts in Grand Cayman. They moseyed up the elevator giving them the appearance of a giant hangover with a duffel bag full of cash. When they got back to the room they were relieved to find a note from the girls saying they took and spa day and wouldn't be back until late. Upon reading the note they all went to their rooms and slept until six pm, when the girls returned.

Darien heard the girls walk in, chatting away but could not bring himself to move. He had been so tired from being invisible and from the stress of having to do the jobs and lying to his friends. About a half hour after the girls had returned Brooke came into Darien's room.

"Get your lazy ass up, were going to dinner." She said from the doorway. He grunted.

"That's something I certainly didn't miss." He grumbled, still lying face down on his bed with only his jeans on.

"What." She challenged. He flipped over onto his back and sat up.

"Your ever-so-kind demeanor." He said then batted his eyelashes and mustered up as much sarcasm as he could manage in his tired state. She stuck her middle finger out at him and waited impatiently in the doorway to make sure he got up. He slowly dragged himself out of bed and stood up to stretch. Brooke began to admire his muscles then stopped herself when she remembered who she was looking at. However, this did not go unnoticed by Darien.

Darien ate with ease because he knew they could afford whatever they wanted for at least next decade. After dinner they decided to go to one of the millions of mini golfing places. They played two rounds they all lost terribly to Joseph so they all decided to go back to the hotel. Once they were all settled in their pajamas Zoe called everyone into the living room to watch a movie. None of them could ever agree on what type of movie to watch but this time Zoe got her way and they watched The Haunting in Connecticut. Everyone was okay with watching scary movies except Brooke. She was as fearless as everyone one else in real life but when it came to scary movies she was the world's biggest chicken.

Darien had already seen the movie so he was just watching Brooke. He loved to watch her jump every time something startling happened. At one point in the movie when the main character was about to open the basement door Brooke grabbed on to Darien's hand then awkwardly let go when the scary part was over. Then a few minutes later when something even scarier happened Brooke jumped then buried her face in Darien's chest. At this point Darien felt bad for her and wanted to stop the movie but part of him was telling him this was the only time she would grab on to him for comfort so he just held her against him and whispered calming words to her. When the movie was finally over Brooke had fallen asleep on Darien and Darien was in a happy/sleepy state. Everyone cleared out to their bed rooms and Darien decided to bring Brooke to her bed. Once he got her situated he smiled then kissed her head and left the room.

The next day was stormy so they had a pajama day and ordered food from several different places throughout the day. They watched at least four movies and by the fifth movie Joseph was done.

"Hey dre, want to take a walk on the beach with me?" he asked Audrey. She accepted his offer and they left the hotel. The rain had stopped and the air was fresh and cool. They walked hand in hand in a comfortable silence, just enjoying each other's presence. Joseph looked over at Audrey and noticed she had that face she had on when she thought. "What's on your mind hon.?" He asked. She smiled then looked at him, loving that he always knew when she was thinking.

"I was thinking about the first day I met you." She said bashfully. He laughed lightheartedly recalling the day himself.

It was in Verona, 1860. Audrey had been taking a vacation with her mother and she had been allowed to leave the hotel to go sightseeing. Joseph had been living alone at the time due to his father's raging alcoholism and his mother's tragic death. He had been sketching the statue of the Roman goddess Venus when she walked right in front of it. At first he had been annoyed so he walked up to her and was about to use his charm to politely make her move but he stopped when he saw her eyes. There was something about them that captivated him and made him want to know more about this strange English girl. To Audrey it was also love at first sight. He came over somewhat hostile but as he had gotten closer his steps had slowed and he appeared kinder. From then on the couple continued to meet at that same statue of Venus until Audrey had to return to England. Once she had left Joseph was in a great depression and could barely drag himself to sketch until one day he got a letter from her asking that he come up to England to see her.

Once he hit the English border everything went downhill from there. When he got to her house he found her crying in her room. She had stumbled on something that appeared to be a large rock and touched it when she shouldn't have when she went to work with her mother that morning and they wanted to kill her. Her mother had stuck up for her and Audrey watched her mother get shot three times in the head. At that point she ran from the institution and drove home. After she told him the story he acted quickly. He made her pack a bag of clothes and trinkets she wanted to keep then left as fast as they could.

Ironically that same day four other prisoners escaped and they all felt they should stick together and be a family because none of them had any real family. They happened to find Joseph and Audrey walking home one night in a town a few miles away from the lab and recognized her. After the break out Joseph, being the kind and loving person he was, took them all under his wing and they have been together since. He smiled, knowing that even though they all got on each other's nerves sometimes they loved each other as one big dysfunctional family.

Years later they learned that the stone Audrey had touched was a prototype for an immortality stone that the scientists were trying to make into a military weapon. Apparently when she touched it she gained immortality, or at least so they figured by the way Audrey didn't age, much like Joseph. This was another reason they were so perfect for each other.

Joseph and Audrey made a full circle around the beach then returned back to the hotel. When they walked in and the door was open they realized something strange was going on. Joseph made Audrey stay behind him then they walked in to find two men gripping Tyler and Darien by their throats. Tyler had a black eye and had a knife being held to his neck and Darien had several bruises forming on his abdomen and both of them were bleeding in one place or another. They also saw Brooke and Zoe tied to chairs, eyes puffy from crying and cheeks red from being slapped. One of the men was questioning the Brooke.

"Where is Joseph?" he asked Brooke in a heavy Italian accent. She turned her head to the side ignorantly and he slapped it back toward him. Darien struggled with the guy who was holding him back then was punched in the jaw by the fifth man in the room who seemed to be in charge.

"I'm right here Frank, there's no reason to hurt her." Joseph said while entering the room, keeping Audrey behind him. "What can I do for you?" He asked calmly, speaking with his usually hidden Italian accent.

"I think you know exactly what you can do for us." One of the other men said. Joseph nodded.

"I was afraid of that. Is there any chance we can take this outside." He asked knowing the answer.

"There's no need for that, were all just so comfortable." The same man said while the one holding Tyler moved the knife closer to make his point.

"I see. Well how much do I owe you?" Joseph asked, afraid of the answer.

"Well given that it's been a century your original debt of fifty grand with interest is would be a mil." Frank said. Joseph cursed internally. "But seeing as though the boss likes you only have to pay 1.5 mil." He said. This time Joseph cursed out loud.

"How long do I have?" Joseph asked. They all laughed.

"You've had over a century, he wants it now. As in today." One of them said. Joseph let out a big breath.

"Will you accept a check?" he asked. The boss smiled a creepy smile then nodded and Joseph took out the check book.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Tyler said. Everyone turned to look at him. "We just got that money and now you're gonna use it to pay your stupid debt to whoever these goons are. If you think that I am just going to sit here and take this bull shit you have another thing coming." Tyler said furiously thrashing against his captor, despite the knife at his throat. He and Joseph exchanged intense glances, Tyler's of fury; Joseph's more stoic, then he continued to write the check. Then, within the blink of an eye they ran out of the room and took the check with them. Tyler and Darien dropped to the floor.

"Are you okay?" Audrey fussed over Tyler, then Darien. Tyler refused her help grumpily and Darien insisted he'd be fine several times before she gave up. They got up and untied the girls.

"Are you okay?" Darien kneeled in front of her and whispered concerned. He couldn't look her straight in the eye because he felt he was partially at fault for her getting hurt. She nodded yes then he untied her hands. She lifted his chin with her hand to see if he was okay and he wiped the tears away from her face with his thumbs. Once she was completely free she hugged him tightly and he hugged her back. At the same time Tyler hobbled over to Zoe.

"Are you okay?" She asked him. He smirked.

"You're the one tied to a chair and you're asking me if _I'm_ okay." Tyler said. She smiled sheepishly then nodded. He rolled his eyes then untied her arms and legs. Once he stood up strait Zoe attacked him in a hug, knocking them both over on to the ground. "Ow." Tyler moaned then laughed. Zoe profusely apologized then offered to help him up. "No thanks okay, I think I'm going to stay here." He said, out of breath. He laid there for a few minutes with his eyes closed while Zoe sat next to him rubbing his arm in a comforting way.

"Joseph, help me get Tyler onto a bed… again." She said having a moment of déjà vu only this time Darien didn't have to be told what to bring in to her. Tyler had a nasty black eye, bruises from where the man was holding his shoulder, several deep knife cuts on his arms, cheek and chest, and a sprained ankle. "This is going to hurt a little bit." She said as she cleaned the wounds then sewed the deeper ones up. "This one above your eyebrow is going to scar." Brooke told him.

"Figures." He grunted.

"It's a pretty sexy place to have a scar." Zoe told him. He shrugged then cringed, forgetting the stitches he had in his back.

"It's about time we took those out." Brooke said, noticing his soreness from the first fight. She took out his stitches in record time and re-bandaged his back so that his front was bandaged too. "Next patient." She said, looking at Darien. He shook his head no and pointed at Zoe whose lip was bleeding. Brooke rolled her eyes then had Zoe sit on the edge of the bed and wrap her up. After she was done Zoe took Tyler back to his room and laid him down on his bed.

"Brooke told me to give you these," She held out a bottle of pain medicine "But I told her I didn't want to give them to you." She said.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because I'm afraid if I give you the whole bottle…" She said. He was confused for a minute then got the understood of what she was saying.

"Zoe listen, I promise you I will not kill myself by over dosing. If I was going to do so I'd do it in a much cooler way." Tyler joked. She smirked then gave him two pills and he was out cold.

"I sure hope so." Zoe said, leaving the medicine on the night table next to him. In the mean time Brooke had been arguing with Darien that she needed to give him a once over to make sure he was medically okay.

"Gosh if you want me to take my shirt off all you have to do is ask." Darien joked. She rolled her eyes then began to clean his lacerations. "Ow." Darien said and jumped when she cleaned the one under his left ribcage. Again she rolled her eyes and told him what a baby he was.

"When did you get this?" She asked. She ran her fingers over his right shoulder blade. It was a tattoo of a large falcon. He smiled then recalled his brother taking him to get it for his sixteenth birthday.

"Did I ever tell you I had a brother?" He asked her.

"No not that I recall." She said then he turned around to face her.

"Well I did. Two actually, and a sister. But he was the oldest and for my sixteenth birthday he took me." Darien said, somewhat sadly. He missed his family occasionally but knew he could never go home, he had been missing too long. Brooke continued to check him over in silence until she had deducted that other than the cuts he had a sprained knee and a lot of bruises. After she was done she began to pack up.

"Hold on." Darien said as he put his shirt back on but didn't button the buttons.

"What?" She said, losing her patience.

"It's your turn to be the patient doc." He told her. She was about to protest but he pushed her onto the bed and dragged a chair over to the edge. He took some rubbing alcohol and swabbed the small cut she had on her cheek. She flinched then hit him where his scar from the bullet was. "Hey you did it to me." He smirked. She glared at him and he finished by putting a small band aid on the wound. He then reached out and put a lose strand of hair behind her hear and smiled.

"Don't stop." Brooke said quietly as Darien began to pull his hand away. He paused in mid air for a moment then slowly moved in and kissed her softly. Once he was sure it was okay with her he swiftly pushed her backwards onto the bed and began to kiss her more passionately. At first he was surprised Brooke was as into this as he was but then he remembered the dream and him catching her check him out. This only made him smile more under their kiss and he moved his legs to the sides of her body. He felt her hands graze his ab muscles and slide up to his chest then neck and laughed at how good it felt. She smiled then gasped as he kissed down her neck then she stopped him and pushed him off her forcefully.

"What the heck was that for?" Darien yelled. She didn't answer she just pushed him out of the room and slammed the door. "Damn it." He whispered to himself then kicked the wall and stalked off into his room.

"What was that?" Audrey asked, hearing Darien kick the wall. She shrugged it off then sat down on the bed next to Joseph, who was laying down staring at the ceiling trying to think. "Um, Joseph I think we need to talk about what just happened." She said. He pretended not to hear her and continued to think. "I'm just surprised is all. I was under the impression we had no secrets between each other." Audrey said, beginning to get pissed off.

"Every couple has their secrets Audrey." He said short tempered. The look on her face was a mixture of shocked and fury.

"Maybe from the rest of the world, but not between each other." Audrey said appalled. He rolled his eyes and leaned on his side to face her.

"You don't honestly believe that crap do you?" Joseph asked disbelievingly. He was shocked at how naïve she was being.

"Yes, I do. Now are you going to tell me who those people were or not?" She asked again.

"Not." He replied simply then got up and walked out of the room and went out on the terrace to continue thinking. When Darien, who had been thinking himself left the room to get himself a drink he noticed Joseph thinking as well. He grabbed the unopened vodka bottle in the mini bar and two glasses with ice and took it outside. He placed the bottle down on the table to announce his presence then poured them both a glass. Joseph turned around to see who it was then continued staring out into the ocean. Darien got up and did the same.

"You first." Joseph said.

"After I cleaned Brooke up we got a little into the moment. I kissed her, she liked it, it got heavier, and she kicked me off the bed. End of story." Darien said then took a sip of his drink. He was clearly pissed off but whether it was at himself or she was unclear.

"Why?" Joseph asked.

"Why what?" Darien replied.

"Why do you think she pushed you off?" He asked. Darien was about to reply with a sarcastic remark then actually thought about it. _Why did she push me off?_ He asked himself.

"I guess because she doesn't want to have feelings for me. I don't blame her, I'm an ass." Darien replied when he finally came to a reasonable explanation. "Your turn." Darien said to Joseph. He sighed.

"Back when I was twenty and I mean really twenty like a hundred twenty seven years ago twenty. I was in a, as Americans say 'a rut'. I had borrowed some money from a guy who was rumored to be in the mafia. He was a good friend for most of my life and I trusted him so I didn't feel too bad about borrowing it. But unfortunately I couldn't pay the money back as fast as I thought I could and was afraid that if the rumors were true that they would kill me. So I confronted my friend and he told me I had nothing to worry about just to get him the money as soon as possible. So it tried. I scraped up as much cash as I could and gave him more when I could. After a while the higher parts of the mob got tired of it and killed my friend, hoping it would make me realize what they would do to get the money back."

"Why'd you need the money?" Darien asked.

"I was buying a ring. I was in love with this girl and to try and get me to pay back faster they kidnapped her and told me I had to have all the money in by the next day or they'd kill her." He said.

"And…" Darien inquired.

"The mob doesn't make empty threats Darien." Joseph said bluntly. It was clear he was still sore on the subject.

"That must have been some ring." Darien whistled. Joseph turned swiftly toward him and glared at him. He was a very intimidating person when he was more in touch with his vampire side. Darien noticed his iris's were almost as black as his pupils and how strung out he looked. "You need to um, you know." He said. Joseph cursed under his breath.

"I know. I've been avoiding it for some time now." He said.

"Well don't be stupid, you're just as dangerous as me but there's no antidote for you if you lose it. Go now. I'll tell the others you went for booze." Darien said. He then noticed how pale and weak he looked. "Actually, while you're at it, stock up on what we're running low on." He said then took the keys out of his pocket and threw them at him. Joseph caught them then walked swiftly out of the room and out the door.

Tyler woke up to the slam of a door. He rolled over and looked at the clock. It was 2 am. He was surprised at how well the pain pills put him to sleep and made a mental note to ask Brooke for more. Tyler slowly walked out of his room to get something to drink then saw Joseph and Darien talking out on the terrace. He was about to go over and join them but Joseph took Darien's keys and left the room. After Tyler grabbed a bottle of Propel out of the fridge he joined Darien.

"What were you and pretty boy talking about?" Tyler asked while taking a sip of his water. Darien smirked.

"Joseph" He stressed his name "was just telling me who those guys were earlier." Darien told him. Tyler nodded his head slowly.

"Russian maf.?" He guessed.

"Italian. Good guess though." Darien said.

"My old man, when he was around that is, used to tell us stories about his grandpa and how he was in the mafia. We used to ask him which one but he would never tell us. I'd always guessed it was Russian but now that I think about his descriptions Italian seems to make more sense." Tyler rambled. Tyler's father had been a hit man for the Italian mafia but he and his brother and sister never knew. Tyler only figured his father and his fathers father had some sort of military background because when Tyler enlisted in the army he excelled in the arms training. He had no idea how wrong he was.

Tyler was in the army for two years before he received honorable discharge for leading a team of men out of a tight situation in Afghanistan after their squad leader died in a minefield. He had never been the same since that mission. Tyler lost three men in the squad that day, including his leader. He never told anyone about what he did there and never intended to. Darien had filled in a few blanks here and there but he still didn't know exactly what happened. It was a set of memories Tyler tried to keep closed inside his head. The same mentality went with what happened to him at the lab.

"So where'd he go anyway?" Tyler asked.

"He had to go… take care of some business." He told him. Tyler realized what he meant then shut up. One thing he never brought up when talking to or about Joseph was his vampirism. It was considered one of those subjects you just never brought up. As if on quo Joseph walked in the door looking less strung out and much calmer. He even greeted Tyler with more patience than usual.

"Is it bad if I say I feel better?" He asked with a smirk.

"Kind of." Darien replied. They stood in an awkward silence for a moment. "Anyway, so I can't believe I'm about to say this but we need to do another job." Darien said distraught.

"Please believe me when I say I'm extremely sorry about this." Joseph said.

"Look lets not talk about this now, it's late and were too sober for that." Tyler said. They laughed then they all sat down, drinking their drinks.

"Do I seem suicidal to you guys?" Tyler asked. Joseph and Darien raised an eyebrow then looked at each other and laughed. Tyler smirked. "That's what I thought." He said.

'Why do you ask?" Darien asked.

"Well when Zoe helped me to my room she left me some pain meds. She gave me the ones a dosage then was about to leave them on the bedside then stopped. She said she didn't want to give them to me because she was afraid I'd try to kill myself." He told them.

"She honestly thought that." Joseph clarified. Tyler nodded.

"So what'd you say?" Darien asked.

"I told her if I was going to kill myself id do it in a much cooler way. Then she smiled and left. And let me tell you, those pills did wonders. I didn't feel a thing while I slept, no dreams no nada. It was nice." Tyler said. He realized that he had implied that he had bad dreams but figured that could have meant anything, not that he was haunted by his past.

"That's harsh. Here get this. Brooke and I kissed." He told Tyler. Tyler sat up and smirked.

"As good as you thought it would be." He stated.

"Better. Only after a few seconds she wigged out and kicked me out of her room, literally." Darien told him. He smiled.

"She definitely likes you." He said, still grinning.

At the same time a conversation similar to this one was going on in Audrey's bedroom. Audrey was crying softly on her bed while hugging a pillow with the others sitting around her. Audrey had told them about the fight they had had and they were all trying to think of what it could have been. They all came to the same general conclusion that it was some mafia that Joseph owed money to but none of them knew why.

"On a generally lighter note, Darien and I kissed earlier today, or yesterday if you want to be specific." Brooke said. Audrey stopped crying and smiled while Zoe smirked.

"Was it as good as you thought it would be?" Zoe asked. Brooke smiled sheepishly then hid her face in a pillow. "Ah I knew it! Details!" she exclaimed.

"Well okay. After I patched him up I started to put away everything but he said it was my turn to be the patient." She began.

"That could be sexy." Zoe smiled. Brooke hit her with the pillow the continued.

"So he patched up my cheek pretty well, I was actually surprised at how he managed to do it without instruction," she said.

"Alright!" Audrey and Zoe yelled at her to go on.

"Then he took a strand of hair that fell into my face and put it behind my ear and then we sort of kissed. Then he pushed me down on the bed and well we got really into it and then I panicked and kicked him off me and out of my room." She said. Their mouths dropped open.

"Why did you panic?! You like him, a lot! Just give into it already!" Zoe practically yelled. Brooke leaned over and covered her mouth then listened to see if the boys were still talking. When she was sure they were she continued.

"Jesus could you be any louder!?" She exclaimed. Zoe was about to answer but Brooke shot her a death glare. "I don't want to get involved with him. He's a player and a moron and not boyfriend material. Besides, he'd never let me in, he's got too much going on up there." She said pointing to her head.

"You just contradicted yourself!" Audrey exclaimed. Brooke put her finder to her lips and Audrey rolled her eyes. "You need to get over whatever fear you have of relationships and get with Darien. You owe it to yourself." She said. Brooke thought about it.

"Maybe. We'll see." She said, concocting an idea.

The next night they decided to check out a club at an outdoor mall nearby. Once they had all gotten in with their fake ideas they got a table and ordered drinks. Joseph, Darien, and Tyler all ordered complicated alcoholic drinks where the others just ordered soda. The club was packed and there was barely any room on the dance floor. Darien had been making eyes with a girl across the room since they entered the club so after he got his drink he drank half of it he walked over and swept her on to the dance floor.

"Darien Fox." He said.

"Maiesha Webb." She replied. "I love this song." She said.

"Me too." Darien smiled as they danced to the beat.

"Whore." Zoe said to the others while they watched them dance slowly to the music. She looked at Brooke to see how she was reacting but if she had been upset she didn't let it show. After a few songs Brooke spotted a very attractive man and went over and asked him to dance. Now letting her experiment commence he agreed then walked out on the floor with him.

"I didn't catch your name." the man said.

"Brooke." She replied back then smiled one of her killer smiles.

"Mike." He smiled back.

"Hey Mike can you do me a favor?" She asked. He was skeptical at first then agreed. "I'm trying to make that guy," She pointed at Darien "very jealous and id appreciate it if you'd help me." She said.

"Pheuf, I was worried it was going to be something weird. I'd love to. As long as you do something for me." He said. This time she looked skeptical.

"I'm gay. And I came here with my friends to prove to them I'm not gay. So if you could make this jealousy very realistic I'd appreciate it." He said. She laughed.

"Something tells me we're perfect for each other." She smiled. He smiled in return then the song changed to something slower. Brooke took this opportunity to begin stage two of her experiment, dancing sluttier. She made sure they were in the line of sight of Darien and his partner then kicked it up a notch.

"You won't mind some pointless making out right?" She asked Mike.

"Anything to make this more believable." He whispered back excitedly. She smiled then began to kiss him slowly.

"What is Brooke doing?" Audrey said shocked. She pointed her out to Zoe and Zoe smiled.

"I know exactly what she's doing." She said then filled Audrey in. Audrey smiled at how clever Brooke was and waited for the madness to unfold. After another song Darien happened to look over and see Brooke making out with the seemingly random guy and the little green monster named jealousy came out of nowhere. _'She's not mine'_ Darien thought to himself. _'She's allowed to kiss whoever she wants to.'_ He tried to convince himself. Then it occurred to him. _'What if she's just trying to make me jealous'_ he thought. He contemplated for a few moments then decided she had no reason to do so, so he continued to dance with Maiesha. At around two am the club was closing.

"Will I ever see you again?" Maiesha asked. Darien looked down sheepishly. "I understand. Well, whoever she is, she's a lucky girl." She said then kissed Darien on the cheek and left. This did not go unnoticed by Brooke. This time _she_ felt the sting of the little green monster and stalked out of the club with Mike. Darien smiled sadly then went back to the others.

"Where's Brooke?" He asked. They all looked around then when they couldn't find her Darien began to worry. Out of all the people the government wanted back Brooke was number two on their list, behind Darien, thus making Darien more paranoid than the others. He decided before he got himself all worked up he would call her. Brooke saw the number on her phone then clicked ignore.

"Would you mind coming back to our place and making my plan completely successful?" Brooke asked.

"Of course not. But um, how far are we talking here." He asked nervously.

"Oh no don't worry not that far, I do have some sense of self respect." She joked then gave him directions to the condo.

"Good. So what'd this guy do to get you so mad?" He asked. Brooke sighed, realizing Mike had the right to know.

"This is really more of a test so see how much he really likes me and so far he's failing." Brooke said. Her phone rang again, it was Darien. She clicked ignore. "Then again the constant phone calls and messages are bringing his grade up a bit."

"You must really like him." He stated.

"I do not." Brooke said sharply.

"Sorry but, why go through all this trouble if you didn't." he asked. She was about to reply but they had pulled up to the condo and went upstairs. Once in the room Brooke thought for a moment. She knew they would be home any minute with Darien's speedy driving so she had to figure out how to play this. She figured them being on her bed would piss him off the most. She pulled him into her bedroom and told him her plan and once they heard the door open they started to make out.

Darien came into the room in a rush then heard something in Brooke's room. He walked in and found both of their shirts half off and flipped out.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Darien asked as he pulled the guy off Brooke with one hand.

"Back off Darien, I can do whatever I want; I don't need your permission." She said buttoning up her shirt.

"The hell you do!" He said still gripping Mike's shirt at the collar. "Who are you?" Darien asked roughly. Mike didn't answer. Darien began to lose control of his rage and he threw the guy up against the wall. He was about to punch the guy in the face when he spoke.

"Hey this wasn't part of the deal." Mike said fearfully to Brooke. Darien stopped and let Mike's feet touch the ground.

"Deal?" Darien said, then figured it out. He started laughing manically to the point of hysterics. "Dude you can go, no hard feelings right?" Darien asked, still chuckling. Mike gave him an uneasy smile then ran out of the room and out of sight. Brooke was shooting death glares at him. "What?" Darien said finally sick of her glaring.

"You failed." She said, slightly upset.

"What in the world do you mean?" he asked.

"I expected you to become a jealous monster, and your reaction was about the size of a jealous hamster." She said.

"What did you want me to do? Kill the guy? Really Brooke. What if he hadn't said anything and too much quicksilver pumped through my veins? Then what Brooke? Would you have injected me with counteragent or would you have just let me go completely psycho path on him?" He asked infuriated. She groaned exasperatedly and he left the room angrily.

He, Joseph and Tyler had decided to put a mini fridge out on the terrace for drinks so Darien went straight outside and took a beer out of the fridge. He realized that he had been drinking as an outlet for his emotions but still didn't want to confront the problem. Before Darien could drink more than a sip of his beer Brooke came out onto the terrace.

"I'm sorry." She said. Darien spit out his beer. Brooke never apologized to anyone; she considered saying sorry a sign of weakness.

"Why'd you do it?" He asked after he got over the initial shock. She sat down on the chair next to him.

"I wanted to see how you would react. I hadn't planned on following through with this experiment then when I saw you with that girl something in me just made me do it. And I didn't think about the possibility of quicksilver madness because I didn't think you would get that mad" She told him. "For the record that guy was gay." She said. Darien smirked. He then got up and took a sip of his beer while staring out into the ocean.

"That's called jealousy my friend. It's a bitch. If only you could have heard what was going on in my head when you were dancing with that guy I think you would have called off your little plan and sent the guy into the witness protection program." He said. She laughed lightly then got up and stood next to him then took his beer from his hand and took a swig.

"I didn't think you drank." Darien stated.

"I'm just full of surprises tonight aren't I." She laughed then gave him his beer back and they stood watching the wave's crash against the shore.

"So where do we go from here?" Darien turned to her and asked. She pretended to think about it then moved closer. He did the same then stopped, not wanting a repeat of what happened earlier that day. She leaned on him and her lips were less than an inch away from hers when he spoke. "The last time we did this you kicked me. Is that going to happen again?" he asked his voice all husky. She then closed the gap between their faces and he took it as a no. They enjoyed their entirely blissful kissing for a few more moments then he pulled away.

"Let's not push it for one day." He said. She smiled then nodded into his chest. They stood there basking in each other's presence then heard yelling coming from the other room.

"Why didn't you tell me when we first got together?" Audrey said loudly. He had just told her the whole story of owing the money to the mafia.

"It wasn't your burden to bear." Joseph argued back softer.

"What else have you kept from me?" She asked.

"Look Audrey there are things about me you don't want to know about." He told her.

"Like what." She challenged.

"I just said you don't want to know and I don't want to talk about it." He told her. "They aren't things a lady's ears should hear." He said.

"Get out." Audrey said forcefully. His last comment had put her over the edge. He pleaded but she wouldn't listen. "I don't want to talk anymore; you can sleep somewhere else, I don't want to speak to you." She told him. He looked like he was about to argue but decided against it and let the room. Then he remembered he needed at least a pillow.

"Audrey?" He said then knocked on the door. She opened the door and threw out a pillow and his tooth brush. "Thanks." He mumbled then went and slept on the couch.

Joseph woke up the next morning to the TV blaring in his face. He was about to get up and yell at whoever had turned it on when he decided to check what time it was. When he was it was just about 12 he realized he was in the communal part of the room and it was his fault. He sat up and recalled last night's events.

"You okay man?" Tyler asked. He was the one who was watching TV while eating a sandwich.

"Yeah I'm alright." He lied then got up and peeked into his room to see if Audrey was there.

"They all went down to the beach." Tyler informed him.

"How come you didn't?" Joseph asked.

"I just got up. Those pills man, there the best thing that ever happened to me." He said, Joseph laughed politely. "Hey man can I talk to you?" Tyler asked. Joseph looked skeptical then walked back into the living room and sat down.

"What?" Joseph said somewhat impatiently.

"You remember when we were talking about the job a couple of weeks ago." Tyler said. Joseph nodded yes and he continued. "Well is it just me or do you think Darien was a little too, damn I don't know how to put this, good at it." Tyler said. Joseph looked shocked. He was about to reply but Tyler stopped him. "Just think about it for a minute." Tyler said. Joseph thought back to the job then understood what he was talking about. Darien had planned out the whole thing, down to the last detail and all they had to do was come along. He may have even been able to manage it without them.

"Okay so what's your point?" He asked Tyler.

"I don't know what my point is; I was just saying it was weird. But I do think it has something to do with his life before the lab." He said. Joseph pondered for a moment. Tyler was right. None of them knew much about any of the other's past let alone Darien, The only thing they knew was that Darien went to a juvenile delinquent center for killing a man. Joseph let it go and picked up a book and read until they came home from the beach. Once again he tried to talk to Audrey but she just ignored him then shut the door on his face.

That night most of them were tired from playing at the beach all day so they ordered Italian food. Through most of the meal they had to listen to Joseph complain how it was a disgrace to Italian's everywhere. After diner everyone but Brooke and Darien turned in. They decided to watch a movie because they spent the whole day tanning and weren't very tired. He let Brooke pick the movie because she told him she had nightmares after the last scary movie.

"See that bothers me." Brooke said.

"What?" he asked. She pointed at the screen. In the movie the main character was sentenced with the death penalty. Darien looked at her puzzled. "The government has no right to take a man's life, whether he deserves it or not." She said. Darien removed his arm from around her.

"You don't believe in the death penalty?" He asked.

"Of course not it's barbaric. Don't tell me you do." She said.

"Actually I do." He said offended. She was about to reply then stopped.

"If there's one thing my mother taught me it was that there were three things you never talk about with your dates. Religion, politics and race." She said. Darien nodded.

"My dad used to tell me the same thing." He said. They let it drop then a few minutes later Darien spoke. "But seriously you're against the death penalty. Let me guess you're pro abortion too." He asked.

"Yes I am and no I am not pro abortion are you?" She asked.

"Not I'm prolife." He told her.

"We'll at least we can agree on something." She said. There was silence for a minute. "Do you believe in God?" She asked, breaking the silence.

"What does that matter; I thought we were going to avoid these topics!"Darien exclaimed.

"I need to know, I can't date a guy who doesn't believe in God." Brooke said. Darien snorted.

"Well then I guess were not dating anymore." He said loudly as he walked out of the room.

"I guess not." She yelled back then they went to their rooms and slammed their doors.

C.4

Tyler had forgotten to take his pain meds that night so when he'd finally fallen asleep he dreamt just as he used to before the pills. This time it was about the war. He was walking behind his squad leader General Caesar, one of the best in the service, when Tyler heard a few men speaking to each other in Afghani. Tyler was the only one of the squad who spoke fluently so when he figured out that they were saying he grabbed the two men in front of him and told them there was a minefield ahead but the general and one other man continued to walk on. They tried to signal them back but it had been too late. The general set off the field and the men retreated as fast as possible.

As they ran back the men began to shoot and out of the corner of his eye Tyler saw his best friend Liam fall. Instead of following protocol and continue on until the men reached safety Tyler stopped and went back to find his friend's leg blown off and part of his arm missing.

"Come on man were gonna make it, just hold on" Tyler said, trying to help him up. They managed to get a few feel then Liam fell again.

"Just…" Liam began to say.

"No." Tyler said sternly. "I can't and I won't. We can make it." He said and tried to lift him up again. Liam resisted.

"You won't make it with me slowing you down, just do it." Liam begged. Tyler refused. "Tell Jess I love her, Mikey too." He said while taking the picture of them out of his helmet. Tyler heard footsteps behind him and he knew he had to do it.

"I will, I promise." Tyler said, tearing. Liam a thankful smile then Tyler shot him dead. He looked into his eyes one last time and saw the gratitude then shut them and ran off to his team.

In the event of their squad leader being unable to perform on the line of duty Tyler was the next man up. He set his feelings aside for later then figured out how to lead his men out of the line of fire. His dream then cut to the ceremony where his squad received their medals of Honor then again to Private Liam Michael Watson's funeral where they awarded him with a Purple Heart. After this Tyler woke up in a cold sweat. Once he realized it was just a dream he decided to get up, not wanting to have that dream again.

He decided to check on Zoe, just to make sure she was okay. He did this when he couldn't sleep; it was almost as if it comforted him. When he saw her sleeping peacefully he was glad she was okay. He decided to go out for a run then remembered that Darien had asked them all not to go out alone at night. Tyler thought technically it wasn't night time anymore seeing as though it was four am but he decided to wake him up and ask him if wanted to come. He walked into his room to find Darien lying on his stomach, taking up the whole bed.

"Jesus I'd never want to sleep in the same bed as you." Tyler laughed. Darien grabbed his gun from the nightstand drawer and pointed it at Tyler who lifted his hands in the air then turned the lights on.

"Jesus you scared the shit out of me." Darien said then threw his gun on the bed. Tyler lowered his hands then rolled his eyes.

"You're such a paranoid SOB. Listen I'm going out for a run, you wanna come?" He asked. Darien glared at him.

"This is what you woke me up for. God damn your insomnia." He said then got up and pulled on a pair of shorts and his sneakers. Darien knew Tyler didn't sleep well so he tried to help when he could. "Should we get Joseph?" he asked.

"He'll just slow us down." Tyler replied. He then quickly scribbled a note to the others that they had gone jogging on the off chance one of them woke up and found them gone.

After their fifth mile they began to slow down to a jog and by the sixth they had to start walking. Once they gained their breath back they turned around and jogged back towards the hotel. On their way they noticed two girls about their age jogging behind them.

"What's up ladies, can keep up with us?" Darien teased. They laughed then jogged next to them.

"Wanna race?" the one closest to Darien asked. He sized her up and noticed she was in as good shape as he was but being the egotistic SOB he was he was he looked at her and they raced off ahead of the others.

"Janice." Said the one jogging next to Tyler.

"Tyler." He said. "What are you ladies doing up so early?" he asked

"We have to keep in shape for our jobs." She said. This comment intrigued Tyler.

"What do you do?" He asked.

"Do you watch women's soccer?" she asked.

"I follow the scores." He said.

"Then you might recognize Gracie. She's a striker on the US women's Olympic soccer team." She told him. Tyler thought for a minute then recognized her.

"And you're the keeper aren't you!" Tyler said somewhat excited.

"I thought you said you didn't follow." She smiled.

"I pick up things." He laughed.

"I win." Janice said to Darien who was inches behind her.

"Barely." He huffed. He hadn't run that fast in a while. "Darien." He held his hand out.

"Gracie." She said shaking his then Tyler and Janice joined them. "Hey listen, were only in town for a couple of days but would you guys be interested in joining us for lunch some time…" she started. "That is unless you're taken." She said. Tyler looked at Darien wondering what his current status was and nodded.

"We'd be delighted to." Darien said and gave them a time at a new restaurant they had wanted to try then they jogged back to the hotel. No one was awake when they got back so the room tried to be quiet.

"So I thought you and Brooke were doing well, what happened?" Tyler said.

"Oh well that must have been a few hours ago, keep up Tyler." Darien joked. "Nah we had a fight and she said she couldn't date me anymore." He said.

"What about?" Tyler asked.

"It started with capital punishment." He told him which he knew Tyler had the same view as him on that subject. "And ended with her asking me if I believed in God." Darien finished.

"Do you?" Tyler asked. Darien didn't want to say just in case they didn't see eye to eye. "Cuz I don't." he said. Darien was relieved.

"Nah me either, that's when she said she couldn't date someone who doesn't believe in God." Darien told him.

"See the way I figure it is, if there was a God all this shit wouldn't be happening. No war, no diseases, no death." Tyler said.

"My feelings exactly." Darien agreed grimly. They sat in silence for a few minutes. "Is it socially acceptable to drink at this hour?" He asked then looked at the clock. It was 6am.

"No but when have we ever done anything within social standards?" Tyler laughed. Darien smiled then grabbed 2 beers from the mini cooler.

"This was definitely the best idea ever." Darien said.

"Definitely." He said then Tyler opened their beers bare handed and they toasted silently.

"It's it a little early?" Joseph stumbled out onto the balcony dozily.

"To be up or drinking?" Tyler asked.

"Both I guess." He said then grabbed a beer out of the fridge. "So are we talking about what were going to do to get more money?" He asked.

"We are now." Darien said. "I was thinking same method, different direction." He said. Tyler and Joseph exchanged glances, recalling their conversation the day before.

"Whatever you think man, you're the expert." Tyler said. "But maybe Joe and I can help more this time." He suggested. Darien stared out at the rising sun and thought. He was afraid if he gave them more responsibilities there was a larger possibility for error.

"Sure." He said uncertainly. "Here's a better question. Do we tell the girls what we're doing? They're bound to suspect something." Darien thought out loud.

"I don't know about you guys but I don't want to worry them." Joseph stated. Tyler and Darien agreed, coming to the same conclusion.

"Let's agree on something." Darien said. They looked at him. "I think, in the case of one of us getting caught, the others shouldn't go back for him. Do we have an agreement?" Darien said. They were shocked.

"I don't think I can do that." Tyler said, recalling his war days.

"Yeah me either, even if it was Tyler." He said. Tyler glared at him then looked at Darien.

"Think about it. Isn't it better if they only caught one of us as opposed to all of us?" Dairen said. They knew he was right but were both uncomfortable with doing so.

"Ok, fine." Joseph said, having no intension of listening. They looked at Tyler. He nodded, not making eye contact with either of them.

"I need your word." Darien said looking at him intensely with his deep brown eyes.

"You have my word." Tyler said staring back with his intense hazel ones. He then hoped they wouldn't end up in a situation where he would have to go back on his word.

In the other room Audrey had had her ear up against the wall and heard their whole conversation. Once they stopped talking she ran into Zoe's room, woke her up and then dragged her into Brooke's room.

"Hey I was sleeping." Zoe said groggy.

"I think you are going to want to hear this." Audrey said. They plopped onto Brooke's bed and she woke with a start. After she was it was them she rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock.

"Guys its six in the morning, why the hell are you in here?" She asked.

"Audrey has something to tell us." Zoe said. They looked at her and Audrey spilled.

"Ok so you know how the boys went on a 'boys night out' a few weeks ago?" Audrey said, using air quotes. They nodded. "Well I don't think they were doing what they said they were doing." She said.

"What do you mean?" Zoe said.

"I think that they were getting money." Audrey said.

"Yeah, they won a poker game and got the money. What's the big deal?" Brooke said.

"No I don't think they did. I think it was a cover." She said.

"Psh, please they're not smart enough to pull off a robbery." Zoe said. "Right?"

"Well maybe it isn't a matter of smart; they could have used their abilities." Audrey said. "Especially Darien's." she said.

"Why do you think they robbed some place?" Brooke asked.

"I heard Darien say 'Same method, different direction' and then Tyler asking if he and Joseph could help more." Audrey said.

"That still doesn't mean they robbed some place." Brooke said.

"I have an idea." Zoe said then left the room momentarily. She came back with the communal laptop. "Let's look up articles of robberies a week ago up north." She said simply.

"Okay so let's say for arguments sake that they did rob a bank. All that money would be gone now from Joseph's… confrontation would be gone now wouldn't it?" Brooke said. This pieced the rest of the puzzle together for Audrey.

"That's it!" Audrey said. They looked at her. "That's what they meant. They're gonna do it again, the same way they did it the last time in a different place!" She figured out. Just then Zoe came across an article that might help them.

"Hey guys this says that there were a chain of robberies from a small town in North Carolina up to Virginia." She informed them. "Wait, it says one of the robberies had a gun involved. I don't think any of them have a gun." She said. "But if I had the abilities Darien, Tyler and Joseph have, this is how I would commit a robbery" she finished. This left them all thinking.

"Let's search their rooms. If they really did it we should find a gun, lock picking tools, something strong enough to cut open a safe. If we find anything else suspicious look at it but put it back in its place. Let's go." Audrey said. They all agreed then snuck into the boys rooms.

Audrey didn't have many places too look because she took up most of the space in her and Joseph's room. She looked under the bed then in his part of the closet and found nothing so she went to help Zoe in Tyler's room. Zoe looked through his closet and his drawers and came up with nothing. Then she and Audrey took apart his mattress and found nothing. Finally they checked under the bed and found a duffel bag. They exchanged glances then picked it up and threw it on the bed. They opened it and found exactly what they were hoping they wouldn't find. They also found a thousand dollars in cash along with fake driver's licenses for each of the boys. They quickly put it back into place and scurried out of his room.

Meanwhile Brooke was searching in Darien's room when she heard his voice getting closer. She panicked. Luckily for her Audrey and Zoe knew she was still in there and tried to distract him.

"Hey Darien. Whatcha doin'?" Zoe asked. Audrey stood next to her, blocking his way.

"I'm going to go take a shower…" He said then tried to pass them.

"Really that's interesting. Are you planning on going somewhere today?" Audrey asked.

Brooke had checked everywhere and was about to give up when she remembered she didn't check the night stand. She opened the drawer and found his gun. She picked it up and looked at the model then # accidentally knocked the remote off the table. Darien heard it fall and scowled, knowing it came from his room.

"Yes, I have a date." He said then pushed past them and walked into his room. He walked in to see Brooke holding his gun. He walked over and grabbed it from her. "What are you doing?" He said.

"I could ask you the same thing." Brooke said, realizing how stupid it sounded.

"You know what, I don't want to know." He said then put the gun back in the drawer, locked it. "Can I help you with something?" He said harshly to her. She sneered then left the room then joined Audrey and Zoe in her room while Darien got in the shower.

"You wouldn't believe what I found." They all said at the same time.

"You first." Brooke told them. They told her about the duffel bag and she told them about the gun.

"What did you say the model was?" Zoe asked, looking at what the article said.

"An M30." She told her. Zoe looked up.

"You sure?" She asked. Brooke nodded. They sat in silence for a moment. "So they robbed a bank." She said stunned.

"More than one bank." Audrey corrected.

"And they're gonna do it again." Brooke said taken aback.

"Wow." Zoe said.

"Yeah" Brooke agreed. "What do we do?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Audrey asked.

"Do we tell them we know?" Brooke said.

"No" Zoe quickly replied.

"Well we can't just let them do it again can we?" Audrey said.

"Of course we can, it's our only source of income. Besides what has the government done for us other than hurt us and kill the ones we love. As long as they're only stealing from them, who cares? Hell, the more the better." Zoe said.

"Brooke what do you think?" Audrey asked.

"I think…" She said "That Zoe is right. But that still leaves the matter of are we going to tell them we know or not?" she said.

"I think we should, I want in." Zoe said.

"No, no this is a bad idea. It's dangerous enough that they do it, having all of us do it there bound to catch one of us." Audrey said.

"She has a point. I think we should tell them we know and they can't pull one over on us but that's it. No offering or insisting we help." Brooke said. They agreed. "When are we going to tell them?" she asked.

"Now is as good as ever." Zoe said. They agreed then walked out of the room to find Tyler wearing khaki shorts and a solid red collared shirt and Darien wearing khaki shorts and a solid blue collared shirt. "Or maybe not." She said.

"Where are you going?" Audrey asked politely.

"We have dates." Tyler said, only looking at Zoe once naturally. Darien looked at the somewhat hurt look Brooke had then smiled smugly. "Dude you got money?" he asked.

"Nah I don't, do you?" he asked. Tyler left the room and went to what the girls presumed was the duffel bag under his bed and retrieved two hundred dollars. "Ok we're off, catch you later." Darien said and they left. They returned a few hours later raving about the restaurant and how awesome he girls were.

"What's the catch?" Joseph said when they were finally alone that afternoon.

"He's trying to make Brooke jealous, I'm trying to make Zoe think she has no shot with me so she stops tempting me." Tyler said. Joseph nodded in understanding.

"I can understand him wanting to make Brooke jealous but I don't understand why you keep pushing Zoe away." Joseph said to Tyler. "I mean she might be the only one who could ever put up with your shit and you keep ignoring your feelings for her." He said.

"What are you Dr. Phil?" Tyler said.

"No he's got a point, why do you do that?" Darien asked. Tyler sighed.

"I'm not good enough for her. She needs someone stable and much less dangerous." Tyler said.

"In case you haven't noticed, she's just as dangerous as you." Joseph argued back.

"Don't talk about her like that." Tyler said grabbing the collar of Joseph's shirt. Just then Zoe and Audrey walked in and Tyler dropped him and walked out of the room.

"What's the matter with him?" Zoe asked concerned.

"Nothing they just had a little tussle." Darien said. "Hey where's the laptop?" Darien asked changing the subject.

"Aren't you going to go find him?" Zoe asked.

"He's a big boy, I'm sure he can find his way around without getting lost." Joseph said in a demeaning way. Zoe rolled her eyes then left the room to go after him then ran right into him.

"Ow." He said, smirking. "You're dangerous to be around." He stated.

"You're telling me." She said. He sat down on the floor with his hands on his knees. "Are you okay?" she asked. He smirked then looked down for a minute.

"Yeah I'm fine." He lied. He was never fine.

"You are never fine." She said. He laughed.

"This is true." He said.

"Something's really bugging you this time, what's up?" she asked. He thought about telling her about his dream then decided that was entering territory he didn't want to wander with her.

"I just didn't sleep well last night; I forgot to take the pain pills." He told her, which wasn't untrue.

"I see. We'll if you ever want to talk about Liam, you know where to find me." He looked at her shocked.

"How did you…" he began.

"Sometimes when I can't sleep I go in and see if you're okay. It calms me somehow." She told him then got up and went back inside. He joined her several minutes later then went into his room and watched TV. Around seven they went out to a bar/grill at the big outdoor mall and had a good night dancing and drinking. They returned to the condo at midnight and everyone crashed. Around four thirty am Tyler was having that dream again. He was walking up to the minefield but this time he was woken up before it could get any further.

"Ty, wake up it's just a dream." Zoe said shaking him. Tyler then rubbed his eyes and sat up. He looked around. There was no one there. He decided this dream was a sign so he went into Zoe's room to see if she was okay. She had been having one of her own bad dreams. He got into bed next to her and put his hands on her face.

"Zoe wake up, you're okay sweetie." Tyler said sadly. He wiped the tears away from her face and tried to wake her up by shaking her. "Zoe?" He asked again. She continued shaking then slowly opened her eyes. He almost fell out of the bed when he saw that her irises mimicked fire. He shook her violently and her eyes returned to their grayish blue. Once he was sure she was awake he hugged her tightly then turned her face up to him and kissed her tenderly. There were only two times Tyler cried in his life and this was one of them. She returned then smiled lightly and snuggled into him.

"I thought I lost you there for a minute." He whispered somberly.

"Me too." She whispered back then looked at him. Seeing her face Tyler relaxed and she kissed him sweetly again. "Do you want to talk now?" she asked. He tensed up then put his face in her neck and spoke.

"I was in the army for two years." He started.

"Yes I know, you still wear your dog tags." She said. He smirked, somewhat flattered she noticed.

"Yes I do. Anyway so my dream was of when I led my squad leader and two men to their deaths. One of which was my best friend Liam." He struggled to get out. She rubbed his arm lovingly and he continued. "The two worst parts of the dream/memory are when I couldn't tell General Cesar and the man behind him to stop fast enough before they walked into the minefield, and when I watched Liam die." He told her. She buried her face in his bare chest and comforted him.

"I tried twice to get him up but he told me to…" He choked a bit. "put him out of his misery and to tell his wife and kid he loved him. That was the last thing he said to me before I shot him." Tyler struggled to finish.

"You're a good man." She told him. He nodded no.

"I'm a murderer." He said back.

"I don't believe that." She told him. He sat up on his elbow.

"You should. I let him die. I let all three of them die. And by watching Liam die I put the rest of the squad's lives in danger by holding them up. I am a murderer. "He tried to convince her.

"No," she told him. "You're a human, well, sort of." She joked. He grinned then hit her playfully for making him laugh then remembered something else he wanted to tell her.

"Maybe this will change your mind." He said grimly. "Do you remember that night when I disappeared after we broke out?" he asked. She nodded, remembering looking for him for hours only to find him back at the house hours later. "I killed a lot of people that night." He said. She looked momentarily shocked then regained her composure.

"I'm sure you didn't mean to." She said uncertainly.

"No, I knew what I was doing. I was running in the woods and I hadn't taken my medicine that night. I came across a few families camping and, well I think you can figure out the rest." He told her.

"You can't hold yourself responsible for what that monster does when he takes over your brain." Zoe told him honestly.

"God you're stubborn. I just told you I killed people and you tell me it wasn't my fault." He said.

"I've come to the conclusion there isn't anything you could do that could make me not trust you with my life." She said. This angered him.

"You can't trust me that much. I don't trust me that much, so you definitely can't." He told her. She shrugged.

"Be that as it may, I do. And that's not going to change so you better just accept it and move on." She told him. "Now try and get some sleep." She said, pushing the covers off her and closing the remaining space between them. Tyler's normal body temperature was several degrees above her own due to his wolfiness so she was hot under the blankets. He decided it was a fight to pick another day and tried to get some sleep before the sun rose.

The next morning they gathered around and had breakfast together for the first time since they had gotten to South Carolina. Audrey made a ridiculous amount of food as usual but it was all devoured mostly by Tyler. No one knew that Tyler and Zoe had spent the night together and that was the way they preferred it, for now. After everyone was settled the girls decided it was time to bring up the robbery.

"So I was online yesterday and apparently there was a chain of robberies up north." Zoe aid nonchalantly. The three of them acted as though it meant nothing to them and kept eating. "The police can't figure it out." Zoe continued, trying to get them to spill.

"Shocker." Darien and Tyler said at the same time then bumped fists.

"But we did." Zoe said. Darien choked on his food, Tyler stopped chewing and Joseph dropped his fork on his plate.

"Really?" Darien said nervously. "How?" he wiped his mouth with a napkin, suddenly losing his appetite. He then remembered the other day when he found Brooke in his room with his gun and pieced together how they figured it out.

"Found the bag under Tyler's bed and the gun in Darien's room." Brooke said calmly. By now Joseph and Tyler had stopped eating due to loss of appetite.

"Okay, so you know. Where does that leave us?" Joseph said when he could finally speak again.

"I don't know, you tell us." Audrey said.

"Do you have a problem with it?" Tyler asked.

"No, we understand completely." Zoe said simply. Darien, Tyler and Joseph stared at each other for a minute, trying to figure out what the point of the conversation was then it came to Darien.

"No, absolutely not you cannot help, its out of the question." Darien said, looking at Tyler and Joseph to back him up.

"Absolutely no." Joseph said.

"Not gonna happen." Tyler said.

"And why not?" Brooke challenged. She didn't like being told not to so something.

"Because he barely lets us help let alone you guys. Besides it's too many people." Tyler stated. Darien and Joseph nodded in agreement then the girls ganged up on them.

"If we help you could do it all in one place and it would go much faster." Zoe tempted. Joseph and Tyler seemed to open up to the idea slightly but Darien closed their minds just as quickly.

"I won't take any of you with me if that means leaving you girls at home." Darien said sternly. Joseph and Tyler started to argue with him until everyone joined in and then someone whistled to break up the madness.

"Hear me out," Zoe said. "I did some research for banks that contain a lot of money and aren't very secure and found nothing." Darien was about to open his mouth but she continued. "However I did find a bank that held all the money we needed and with our abilities we could get in and out of there safely with what we need." Zoe told them. Darien was intrigued now. "A place where a lot of money of kept and we'd only be stealing from the government." Zoe grinned. Darien knew what she was talking about.

"We're gonna rob the Federal Reserve." Tyler asked. Zoe nodded.

"We're gonna rob the Federal Reserve" Darien replied with a somewhat sick smile on his face. He and Zoe spent the next 24 hours running through the plan for flaws and reworked the whole thing until it was airtight. "I can't believe we're gonna do this." He said somewhat excitedly.

"Me either." She said. "So I guess you've changed your mind about us helping." She said.

"Of course not. I'm still completely against the whole thing and I had a dreadful feeling about you helping but I've gone over the plan and Joe, Ty and I can get in and out of this without you getting involved physically so I'm learning to live with my uncertainty." Darien said. Zoe glared at him then stalked off into Tyler's room.

"What's the matter?" Tyler asked, muting the TV.

"Darien. That's the matter. He _still_ refuses to let us help even after I basically planned the whole thing for him!" She exclaimed. Tyler let her blow off steam before he talked her down.

"He knows what he's doing and if he thinks you guys shouldn't go then he has a reason and ill back him 100%. And don't fool yourself that he couldn't have planned a heist without your help because he would have, it just wouldn't have been as big or in the same place." Tyler told her. "He's been doing this since we broke out two years ago and I trust him. So should you." He told her.

"Why? Why do you trust him? You don't even trust yourself what earthly reason do you have for trusting him?" she yelled. He got off the bed and placed his hands on her arms and lowered her to the bed.

"Let me tell you a story about Darien." Tyler said. He told her about when they were in the institution Darien was like a brother to him, trying to make him feel better and always being there for him when he was ready to crack. Tyler was the same thing to Darien only in a different way. Darien felt he needed to be strong for Tyler so he was motivated to try and get them out. "There was one time," Tyler said, "That Darien was ready to give up. He was ready to kill himself and be done with the whole thing but I convinced him that I needed his sorry ass to break out of there and he stopped. So what you need to understand here is that Darien cares about all of us and he will do anything to keep us safe. And keeping you guys out of the loop and under the radar is his way of doing so, mine too." Tyler finished. Zoe was flabbergasted.

"I didn't know." She said awkwardly.

"We'll now you do." He said then went back to his original position and un-muted the TV. In the meantime Darien had finished the final touches on the plan then decided he deserved a rest. He was walking back to his room when he thought to ask Brooke for some sleeping meds, just to make sure he didn't wake up before he needed to. He cut into her room to find her not there. Figuring she went to the beach he walked into his room only to find her sitting on his bed watching TV.

"What's wrong with the TV in your room?" He asked, changing while he spoke.

"Nothing, I just wanted to talk to you." She said, turning it off.

"Can it wait, because if you start talking I might pass out on you." He said, showing her the bags under his eyes.

"I'll be quick." She told him. He looked at her and waited for her to continue "I don't know what makes you the way you are," She started "But there is something about you that I can't get over. Maybe it's how confident you are or just the way you care about everyone." She said.

"Did you just come in here to tell me how awesome I am?" He asked "Cuz seriously they could have waited until I slept.

"No, look." She said "I just wanted to say that I'm glad that you are the way you are and I'm sorry for whatever they did to you at the institution and for whatever they took of yours and I want know to know that I'm here for you, always. Even if it doesn't seem like it, I am." She told him. He smiled lightly.

"Thank you." He told her sincerely. "What I could really use now is someone to tuck me in." He said with a goofy half delirious smile. She rolled her eyes then helped him into his bed then pulled the covers up. By the time his head hit the pillow he was out cold.

"Goodnight Darien." She said then kissed his head.

Girls dated with government??, them all doing a job together, mention how darien had to talk himself dpwn at club to not go kill guy


End file.
